A retrospective
Published Mon, Jan 4 2010 4:18 AM
Every year about this time people tend to become retrospective – often looking over the past year’s accomplishments and failures and forming new resolutions by which they hope to live out the next year. And, every year about this time the running joke about breaking those resolutions almost as soon as they are formed reminds us of the frailty of human nature. When it comes to such “New Years resolutions” I have as poor a track record as any of us – so I tend to refrain from making them.
The fact of the matter is that men are imperfect creatures. If we were perfect we wouldn’t suffer failures or be faced with the need to renew our resolve from year to year. Rene Descartes in his “Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences” demonstrated from first principles (“I think, therefore I am”) that mankind is imperfect and that that imperfection implied the existence of perfection which might be attained. He named the personification of that perfection “God” and attributed to Him the creative influence that led to our very existence.
“But immediately upon this I observed that, whilst I thus wished to think that all was false, it was absolutely necessary that I, who thus thought, should be somewhat; and as I observed that this truth, I think, therefore I am (COGITO ERGO SUM), was so certain and of such evidence that no ground of doubt, however extravagant, could be alleged by the skeptics capable of shaking it.
…
“In the next place, from reflecting on the circumstance that I doubted, and that consequently my being was not wholly perfect (for I clearly saw that it was a greater perfection to know than to doubt), I was led to inquire whence I had learned to think of something more perfect than myself; and I clearly recognized that I must hold this notion from some nature which in reality was more perfect.
…
“…it but remained that it had been placed in me by a nature which was in reality more perfect than mine, and which even possessed within itself all the perfections of which I could form any idea; that is to say, in a single word, which was God.”
— Rene Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences
Saying that we are imperfect creatures does not cast aspersions on the perfection of our Creator but rather affirms it. We are imperfect creatures precisely because we are an unfinished work. He that made us is still working his will upon us and through us. It is with hope that we can look forward to our perfecting, and it is with faith that we can see its realization. Hope, faith, submission to His will, and the acceptance of His sacrifice for us are the keys to our individual salvation (compare this with the notion of a “collective” salvation recently professed by a rather famous politician).
Recognizing the imperfection of man leads us to further important realizations…
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.”
— James Madison (Federalist No. 51, 8 February 1788)
Thinking back on these words – my retrospective if you will – leads me to wonder how well has the government framed by our founders done in controlling itself? If it has done well then the credit surely lies with the wisdom of the framers and the benevolence of our Creator. If it has not done well then surely the blame lies with the people and their representatives.
“No compact among men ... can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.”
— George Washington, draft of first Inaugural Address, April 1789
George Washington in warning of the boundless ambition of those who would govern us and the apathy of a people of corrupted morals seems to me to have been a prophet warning us about modern times. The ambition of today's politicians is legendary. The end of that ambition is often not even considered. Does the following quote remind you of anyone in politics today?
“Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people, commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.”
— Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 1, 27 October 1787)
But of course George Washington was not merely speaking of ambitious men in the political classes. The “sapping current of corrupted morals” he spoke of also infects our society today. We see its symptoms in the general apathy toward our government and in the trend toward the substitution of license for liberty.
“The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.”
— Fisher Ames (speech in the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 15 January 1788)
Today “cultural conservatives” nearly despair (I say “nearly despair” because despair is itself a sin and “cultural conservatives” would not continue to rail against this decay if there were no hope.) when they see the moral decay that has taken our society down the path to tyranny (not to mention Hell).
“Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.”
— James Wilson (Of the Study of the Law in the United States, Circa 1790)
The cure for tyranny is obviously self-government. Self-government though requires self-restraint and knowledge.
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
— James Madison (letter to W.T. Barry, 4 August 1822)
This is why I place so much emphasis on the need to educate ourselves as conservatives. We need to know the principles upon which our government was founded and we need to know what our representatives are doing with that government. But it's not enough to acquire a secular knowledge of our government. We also need to understand the very nature of a republic and its preservation.
“[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”
— Benjamin Rush (On the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, 1806)
There can be no liberty without the Creator who gave us our unalienable rights.
“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.”
— James Madison (A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785)
Conservatism – true conservatism – is more than just adherence to the libertarian ideals of the founders. It’s more than mere adherence to capitalism. It’s more than simply fighting socialism. To be a true conservative – with a strong belief in the power of the individual and in individual rights – also takes faith.
This year, I guess I will make one New Years resolution. It's simply this — I resolve to do my best to re-awaken my faith in my Creator and his design — not just for me but for my country too. My own individual salvation and my nation's depend on it.
I leave you at the end with this final quote…
“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
— Thomas Paine (American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776)
Originally published at Grizzly Groundswell.
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Debbie responded with:
 | Just an amazing article to start off the new year.
Part of America's problems can certainly be traced back to the fact that way too many are not active in learning about their political nominees, learning about the issues at stake, they are just uninformed.
Too many vote the way grandma and mom and dad voted, having no earthly idea what the party or politician stands for.
Those of us who try to be informed have been duped so many times we tend to get frustrated.
I fear in the next few years there will be a push for a third party, which now I think would be a huge mistake. We need to take all that energy from the townhalls and the Tea Parties and push for Conservative candidates in the Republican party and weed out the RINOS. |
David responded with:
 | I'll join you in that resolution, Perri. |